The One Time Will McAvoy Took Mackenzie McHale to the Aquarium
by shan14
Summary: aka, the jellyfish fic. "I didn't realise there would be jellyfish," she mumbles, still tucked into his chest with her lips pressed to his jumper. It's the nice navy blue one that she once complimented him on and Will had been chuffed when her eyes had lingered on him earlier that morning.


**A/N:** AKA, the jellyfish fic. This practically wrote itself.

* * *

Will stumbles upon tickets to the New York Aquarium quite by accident.

He'd meant to chose the 19 year old bottle of St Magdalene's Single Malt, but then wires had been crossed somewhere between him telling Charlie and Charlie telling the people at the Animal Welfare Trust whose benefit he had spoken at, and he's not yet ruled out the possibility that Charlie took the whiskey for himself, but the result had been two tickets to the aquarium landing on his desk on a Monday morning.

He'd been loath to wade back into the bureaucracy of exchanging them. After all it had been a thank you present, and he was pretty sure it was considered rude to retract something given to him in gratitude.

"Are you busy this weekend?" he somehow finds himself asking.

Mackenzie McHale, young, fresh faced and decidedly not British - a mistake he'd made in the first few minutes of knowing her when her lilting accent had greeted him behind a firm handshake - was currently on the receiving end of call to someone whom Will would surely soon be interviewing. It was perhaps not the best time to enquire as to her weekend pursuits - but then again Will hadn't been able to string two sensible thoughts together around her in weeks.

They were in the third month of her employment as his executive producer and it had been three months of pure, unadulterated agony.

She was breathtaking.

Beautiful and insanely intelligent and absolutely insane and Will had never known what it was to be utterly, completely smitten by someone until she'd waltzed through his office doorway.

He'd been tongue tied and almost tripped over his desk on more than one occasion, and every time she would flick her eyes his way, smile softly and then have the audacity to giggle. He was positive she knew what she was doing to him. No woman on earth could take that much pleasure in whispering in his ear each evening and not know she was driving him _mad._

So it really isn't his fault that he's unable to keep his thoughts about the weekend to himself.

"Beg pardon?" she questions, covering the mouthpiece of her phone with a hand.

Will finds himself shuffling awkwardly in her doorway. It's the third time this week he's found himself in a similar situation. "Just, this weekend," he begins, floundering nicely, "Are you busy?"

He offers her a smile, shrugging his shoulders - he's sure Charlie showed him a poll lately that said women between the ages of 30 - 55 found him charming and somewhat adorable. Okay, maybe adorable wasn't the word used, but he's banking on the fact that affable and adorable are somewhat related and that Mackenzie will forgive his intrusion based on that alone.

The crease of her brow suggests that might not be happening. "No," she draws out slowly, shaking her head. "I really need to answer this. Can I talk to you in a moment?"

Will nods quickly, making the mistake of stepping backwards out of her door and nearly knocking into Don.

"Sorry!" he throws to the mans retreating back, turning back to Mackenzie's now shut door to whisper the apology once more and lamenting his decline into a bumbling idiot.

Once upon a time he'd been smooth.

ooo

Much to his astonishment Mackenzie does find him later. He's halfway through the script for the evenings report when she sticks her head through his door, knocking only after she's entered.

"Why were you asking about my weekend?" she questions, seating herself on the side of his desk. She'd claimed that as her own on their second day of working together and usually Will doesn't like people perching on his desk. He's rather inclined to love having Mackenzie there.

"I have tickets to the New York Aquarium because you persuaded me to talk at that benefit. I thought it was only fitting that you suffer through the torture of spending a Saturday with 500 children and their parents looking at fish with me."

He's rather proud of that answer. It only took him the better part of an hour to write.

But Mackenzie's soft smile makes the time he should have spent on his script entirely worth it. Her head ducks down slightly and her cheeks blush; her hair is pulled back today but a curled tendril has broken loose and it falls down the side of her face to tickle at her chin. Will wants to tuck it away and perhaps cuddle her - kiss her. Beg her to never let him go.

He's been watching reruns of Hollywood classics on a Sunday night and blames that entirely for his foray into melodramatics.

Mackenzie, still with her head ducked, now turns her gaze towards him and smiles - a proper smile. Not a soft one or a humoring one. A happy one, and Will feels his stomach flip.

"I think you're right."

And that's how Will McAvoy lands his first date with Mackenzie McHale.

At the New York Aquarium.

So it's not the greatest location, but he's sure he can make it work.

At least she knows what she's getting into from the start.

ooo

Will's not so sure she knew what she was getting into.

He certainly didn't.

"I didn't know there would be jellyfish," she mumbles, still tucked into his chest with her lips pressed to his jumper. It's the nice navy blue one that she once complimented him on and Will had been chuffed when her eyes had lingered on him earlier that morning.

He's not so chuffed now that he's managed to scare her half to death.

He runs a hand down her back in soothing circles and the other is tangled in her hair, allowing him to lean down close.

"It's the aquarium," he whispers, delicately in case she's not ready for teasing. He feels her tense against him but then fall limp again, shuffling so that her cheek now rests over his heart.

"I know that. But I didn't really think about it."

Obviously, Will ponders. He tucks a strand of her hair back behind her ear and revels in the opportunity to do so. Perhaps he could even get away with pressing a kiss to her crown - or even her forehead. But first he needs to figure out what went wrong.

"What's wrong with jellyfish Mackenzie?" he breathes in her ear - well aware of the press of children around them and the few adults still looking their way.

They've been lucky. He's pretty sure no one witnessed her sudden gasp and dive towards his chest, but a few people have noticed them pressed in the corner since. He shuffles them backwards, so that they're hidden behind a display on clown fish, and slips his hands around her waist tighter, pulling her into a proper hug.

Mackenzie seems to settle slightly, and her own arm snakes around his waist to squeeze him tight.

"I don't like them," she mutters, finally.

Will resists the urge to snort. It's perhaps not the best way to reassure her.

"Darling," and the endearment slips out entirely without thought, "That was a bit more than not liking them. That was like mortal fear of them."

"Fine," she huffs. "I really don't like them. They scare me. They're all tangly legs and unnatural blobbing and they have no eyes Will. No eyes! It's not right!"

Will presses a kiss to her forehead to quiet her. "It's okay," he breathes softly, feeling her calm.

"I'm sorry this isn't much fun for you," he eventually apologises. "I had planned on taking you to dinner, and perhaps a show for a first date. Not the aquarium."

To her credit, Mackenzie snuffles a laugh. "That's okay. The fish were cute. And I like seals."

"Yeah?" he questions, smiling.

She mumbles back, still pressed into his chest, "Yeah. And I like you, so it evens out."

Will laughs again. "I'm glad."

"Maybe next time we should do dinner and a show," she suggests, and Will is inclined to agree.

The day has given him the opportunity to hold her, and kiss her hair, however, and for that alone he'll admit he isn't too disappointed.

"But I like this," she whispers. Will squeezes her tight and nods.

"This is good."

"Could we continue this?" she asks. Will's brow creases.

"The cuddling?"

"The closeness. But maybe without the jellyfish so nearby?"

Will untangles his hands slowly but keeps one firmly around her waist, tugging her towards the exit and out the door. He leans down and presses a kiss to her forehead and she shuffles closer to do the same to his chest. It's the most intimate gesture he's received in years and he loves it - loves her smell and her smile and her body heat against his own.

But he can't help but tease, "You know they actually can't get out of the glass."

She pushes him into a poster advertising the shark exhibition. "Shut up."


End file.
